International Prizes Awarded to the Best Start-Ups, Out of 700 Poverty Entrepreneurs in Business

Friday, June 3, 2005

Seven top Dutch CEOs and the Dutch minister of Development Cooperation, Ms. Agnes van Ardenne, presented this afternoon the awards to the winning entries of the Business in Development (BiD) Challenge at the Rabobank headquarters in Utrecht in The Netherlands. The BiD Challenge is the first international business plan competition ever to combine small entrepreneurial ideas with poverty reduction. 700 plans were submitted from all over the world. Out of the 20 final nominations, the 10 most promising plans won up to US $25.000 each to implement their commercial initiatives in developing countries.

BiD ChallengeThe Challenge is aimed at individuals and small organisations from the Netherlands and 131 developing countries with refreshing entrepreneurial ideas to combat poverty. The establishment of small businesses stimulates the power of self initiative of local groups and hence creates a foundation for poverty reduction. The BiD Challenge gives Dutch businesses a new opportunity to contribute to poverty reduction in the context of their core business.Press release found here.